The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsPhrases you don't hear anymore:
"Confirmed bachelor"
Do you have an outdated phrase?
walkingman
(10,882 posts)I need to put on my britches - instead of pants.
No one says "rubbers" anymore - condoms.
JoseBalow
(9,511 posts)Galoshes
dchill
(42,660 posts)TexLaProgressive
(12,739 posts)You know the Greatest Generation
Stargleamer
(2,731 posts)I kind of miss it. "Only trouble is, Gee Whiz. . . ."
johnp3907
(4,312 posts)Like Gonna grab something outta the icebox and chill in front of the Dumont.
Iggo
(49,938 posts)On the regular I use blimey, sure and begorah, shiver me timbers
Stuff like that.
soldierant
(9,354 posts)Pluvious
(5,400 posts)... telling how when she was a little girl, the ice man would give them a few ice slivers as a treat in the summertime
Iggo
(49,938 posts)Dave Bowman
(7,173 posts)calguy
(6,154 posts)That is so... heavy.
chowder66
(12,257 posts)Shellback Squid
(10,087 posts)WestMichRad
(3,267 posts)
go stretch out on the Chesterfield and take a nap.
dgauss
(1,534 posts)radical noodle
(10,598 posts)But she's a teacher so has to watch what she says. The kids love that phrase and giggle when she says it.
True Dough
(26,725 posts)with the death of Harry Carey decades ago.

Sanity Claws
(22,414 posts)Rizzuto was an announcer for the New York Yankees for ages. I think he retired in the 1980s.
displacedvermoter
(4,558 posts)Worked with Bill White for a long time, Frank Messer, too.
enid602
(9,697 posts)Never realized Drew Carey is his son until I saw this photo.
True Dough
(26,725 posts)Because they are not father/son.
Hard to tell via the innerwebz, but maybe you meant that in jest.
enid602
(9,697 posts)The photo posted was not Harry Carey (American actor), but rather Harry Caray (né Carabina), Chicago sportscaster. Confusion indeed.
True Dough
(26,725 posts)Having the same name does not help matters! I'm unfamiliar with the actor, at least without doing some research.
FSogol
(47,626 posts)Small world!
malthaussen
(18,576 posts)dgauss
(1,534 posts)"Holy cow!" (and other similar terms), an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England, is a minced oath or euphemism. The expression dates to at latest 1905.[1] Its earliest known appearance was in a tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor of the Minneapolis Journal: "A lover of the cow writes to this column to protest against a certain variety of Hindu oath having to do with the vain use of the name of the milk producer. There is the profane exclamations, 'holy cow!' and, 'By the stomach of the eternal cow!'"[2] The phrase appears to have been adopted as a means to avoid using obscene or indecent language and may have been based on a general awareness of the holiness of cows in some religious traditions, particularly Hinduism.[1]
It may also have been adapted from a Gaelic phrase, holy cathu, meaning "holy sorrow."[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_cow_(expression)
3catwoman3
(29,435 posts)peachy keen from disappearing.
Nittersing
(8,388 posts)She was not a fan.
RainCaster
(13,732 posts)They may be old, but they are NOT mature, stable or trustworthy.
rubbersole
(11,225 posts)"Turntable" sounds like it should have been first.
wnylib
(26,063 posts)royable
(1,426 posts)You mounted the cylinder on a spindle that spun, and lowered the record needle on a pivot to touch the rotatiing outside of the cylinder. The needle fed the sound to a big horn hanging from an arm over the spindle. So, no turning table.
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)Some people are trying to keep it alive...
( there is a surprisingly vibrant secondhand market for vinyl albums, I was shocked at how much money I got dumping my old ones at the recycled records store )
rubbersole
(11,225 posts)Our kids are not selling any of her vast (500+) collection of early '60s through '80s vinyl. They consider it a retirement investment. I was amazed at the demand.
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)Depending upon the rarity and condition
During my research on the resellability of them, I saw some staggering prices paid for some
of the most rare and sought after ones
rubbersole
(11,225 posts)...was a red translucent 45 Elvis record with a Sun Records label. Not mint but very unique. Might be worth a bag of groceries someday 😌.
Response to Buttoneer (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
yorkster
(3,846 posts)be Scandinavian. Maybe I'm thinking of
"Yumpin' yiminy!".
Response to yorkster (Reply #67)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
yorkster
(3,846 posts)childhood...or maybe an old movie on TCM.
yorkster
(3,846 posts)that I only have a dim memory of them.
Good reads. I was about 14 or so and definitely was drawn by the titles...The Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf, etc. Who could resist...
Response to yorkster (Reply #75)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
Keepthesoulalive
(2,307 posts)ProfessorGAC
(76,761 posts)Console organ. A million buttons and switches plus a rhythm box. But, I sounded weak compared to my dad's Hammond.
One of the schools where I sub has a Wurlizter piano. Not in very good shape, but the guy they bring in can still tune it. Wurlitzer never had good action, but their spinets were very affordable so lots of people had them. Like my aunt & uncle.
There was a store in the town where I grew up that was all Wurlitzer & Fender.
After Gibson bought Baldwin, who bought Wurlitzer, they quit making instruments with that name on them.
Their only products appear to be jukeboxes.
Keepthesoulalive
(2,307 posts)At Radio City Music Hall. When I was younger they would turn the lights on over it and then the Rockettes would come out.
ProfessorGAC
(76,761 posts)I read a book about those huge theater organs made by Wurlizter & Kimball.
In fact, I'm pretty sure that the RCMA organ was the Kimball design & layout but built by Wurlizter.
I got to play a big pipe organ a couple of times when I was a kid. 12 or 13 y/o as I recall.
When the volume pedal is pushed, you can just feel the sound.
True Dough
(26,725 posts)Making whoopee
Jive turkey
Here's a dime. Call somebody who cares. (A dime ain't getting you much of anything these days.)
As nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers
You bet your sweet bippy!
Six of one, half a dozen of the other (My dad used to say that a lot.)
Bob's your uncle
Walleye
(44,888 posts)And my mom loved six of 1/2 a dozen of the other. And kids today probably wonder where the expression drop a dime on somebody came from
sdfernando
(6,086 posts)has a whole different meaning nowadays
all together (gratuitous Airplane reference).
And who says nowadays anymore??
whathehell
(30,476 posts)That's British slang, I believe...I first heard it on a British TV series and found it hillarious!
MaryMagdaline
(7,964 posts)No pay phones and even when there were pay phones, no longer a dime
Wiz Imp
(10,028 posts)but there are less than 100000 left.
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/pay-phones-coming-back-free.htm
There Are Still Many Phoneless People
The slow death of the pay phone has been harder for some people than for others. Though the vast majority of Americans now own some kind of cell phone, there are still some including impoverished or unhoused people who depend on the availability of public pay phones.
In some cities, innovators are working to solve the problem. Futel is a project based in Portland, Oregon, that updates old pay phones to provide free calls and voicemail. It has eight outdoor, pay phone-style phones in Portland, plus one in Long Beach, Washington, and one each in Ypsilanti and Detroit, Michigan. "Denial of telephony services has long been a tactic used against undesirable populations," write Futel's founders, "and our devices will counteract that."
In Philadelphia, an "amateur phone collective" called PhilTel is doing more than just preserving old pay phones: They're installing new ones, minus the "pay" part. The project aims to create a network of phones that make free calls anywhere in North America.
though I guess if they're free, they're no longer payphones.
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)wnylib
(26,063 posts)Last edited Sat Dec 21, 2024, 12:27 PM - Edit history (1)
I said that once in front of some younger people who had no clue what I meant. Seems to me that it is self-explanitary, but perhaps they never heard of a china shop.
Speaking of china, who says they are using the "good china" any more? How many people still have a set of china?
JohnnyRingo
(20,882 posts)haha
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)you will hear the scissors comment!
electric_blue68
(26,891 posts)She had gone to dressmaking school after HS in NYC.
She was a fabulous sewer! She knew enough from her design courses to alter things. She might have designed here & there, maybe more before she was married.
Our clothes often had the qualities of looking like they came from Sak's Fifth Ave! 😄 🥰
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)to being my every day china. I love it. I'm only sorry I didn't do it years earlier. The pattern is Royal Doulton Tonkin.
MaryMagdaline
(7,964 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)I would be using it daily.
CTyankee
(68,224 posts)I got $1,300 for the entire collection. Gorgeous pattern but too hard to keep up any more.
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)I can't remember the name of it but she did use it. She also had her mother's everyday silver plate which was what we used most of the time.
I have a (now discontinued) heavy weight Oneida set of stainless which I love and it really pisses me off that it was discontinued. Of course I received all of the silver plate pattern I picked out with the first marriage and still have it.
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)One was mine which was mostly wedding presents from my first wedding. The other set belonged to Mr YD's mother. He brought it to her from Hong Kong when he was in the Navy. That was the one thing she wanted when he asked her what she might like him to bring her. The two sets are very similar: white with platinum rims. I have used them from time to time, when I had folks over for a nice dinner.
We also have a set of Mikasa Italian Countryside which I love! It is a beautiful white and looks nice enough to dress up for a company dinner,
The last time I had my china out, I had the entire family over for Thanksgiving and used a combo of my china and the everyday white I was using at the time. (Not the Mikasa, some heavy stoneware which I gave away because I kept dropping it)
wnylib
(26,063 posts)who sent it to her from Japan when he was in the Navy.
I never did have a set of fine china. Stoneware is ok with me.
10 Turtle Day
(1,232 posts)Its your nickel - after calling her, which means talk as long as you want because Im the one feeding the pay phone or paying the phone bill.
He pulled a shrewdie on me - when someone pulls a fast one on her
Damed if you do, damed if you dont - no good choices
Tan your hide - get a spanking
Month of Sundays - a very long time
Skedaddle - leave in a hurry
Long tall drink of water - a handsome man
I just realized that the explanation to my first two, pay phone and pulled a fast one, are also no longer in use. I guess Im officially old.
Edited to fix typo
LeftInTX
(34,330 posts)She was from Florida.
Earl_from_PA
(306 posts)The bathroom, "the water closet".
Nittersing
(8,388 posts)"WC paper" on the shopping list.
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,728 posts)All 3 of my kids adopted it.
malthaussen
(18,576 posts)Phentex
(16,709 posts)got some strange looks and a few chuckles after I said this to the Google Fiber installers
They never heard of it
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)soldierant
(9,354 posts)in which a man decides to obliterate himself by time traveling to before he was born and killing his father. But when he does that, nothing happens. He is still alive and well. He says, "Well, I'll be a son of a b***h," and the author's last word is "And, in a manner of speaking, he was."
Emile
(42,336 posts)My mother-in-law said that all the time. How did she know the temperature of a well diggers ass? I never asked.
Wicked Blue
(8,887 posts)Emile
(42,336 posts)jmowreader
(53,212 posts)He also liked "shit in one hand and wish in the other, and see which one fills up first."
Also "I'm so hungry I'd eat a skunk's ass."
Emile
(42,336 posts)Lars39
(26,540 posts)surfered
(13,528 posts)Ocelot II
(130,587 posts)peacebuzzard
(5,871 posts)DBoon
(25,007 posts)lark
(26,081 posts)Mom was from rural TX and she and her family used phrase a lot but no one else does anymore.
cksmithy
(494 posts)"the back 40" because our yard is so small. Growing up in the 1950's it was a common expression on tv western shows that my parents always on. I'm from California.
lark
(26,081 posts)CTyankee
(68,224 posts)LeftInTX
(34,330 posts)macwriter
(257 posts)JohnnyRingo
(20,882 posts)Like something you'd say if you were a kindergarten teacher.
soldierant
(9,354 posts)and he is a retired pediatrician. Not exactly a kindergarten teacher - but not so different.
Niagara
(11,876 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)Last edited Sat Dec 21, 2024, 12:03 PM - Edit history (1)
A fine how-do-you-do.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
Dollars to donuts.
Referring to an unmarried woman as an old maid. (Thank God that one is not used any more).
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)... from a great scene in the first sequel to Alien, Aliens?
Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)He loves both of those movies!
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)I thought it was the line :
"Game over man, game over man, wake up and smell the coffee"
But now I'm not so sure
I think I read that the phrase originated from Ann Landers an advice columnist of all places lol
Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)But it was one of her favorite phrases to use in her advice columns, which I read every day in the papers as a kid.
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)This is what I stumbled upon
I'm guessing she picked it up from the Nescafé ads, and helped popularize it
( or was she in the ads saying it? I guess we'll never know lol )
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/2013/0504/15-hidden-meanings-of-popular-food-phrases/Wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee
soldierant
(9,354 posts)didn't just look alike - they were twin sisters. Their real first names were "Esther Pauline" and "Pauline Esther." I kid you not (now there's a phrase!) And their advice and their styles of writing were quite similar. Which makes it next to impossible to remember whether one picked up a phrase from one or the other. One is said to have originated the acronym MYOB (which desperately needs to get revived in today's America.) But don't ask me which.
doc03
(39,091 posts)I ain't no fucking dude, "Woke"
Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)Mr. Diamond still says flick. It drives me up the wall.
chouchou
(3,152 posts)JohnnyRingo
(20,882 posts)I don't even know what that means or when everyone started saying it. It sounds like a capitulatory phrase when you're at a loss for more eloquent words.
Everybody says it though, and I can't change it. I guess it is what it is.
Zambero
(9,990 posts)Oops, scratch that one. It just might get you impeached!
underpants
(196,560 posts)I used to here it a lot at work mostly from people who feel like they HAVE to say something.
MaryMagdaline
(7,964 posts)nocoincidences
(2,489 posts)That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)JohnnyRingo
(20,882 posts)Twofer!!
Zambero
(9,990 posts)greatauntoftriplets
(179,027 posts)rubbersole
(11,225 posts)...my grandfather used both .
sop
(18,671 posts)hunter
(40,703 posts)That was a California phrase my grandma and her sister used. If you lived far from the city you lived out in the tules, which were California's Central Valley marshlands before they were all drained and converted to farmland.
There were some derogatory connotations to it, not quite so harsh as "rube" or "bumpkin."
icnorth
(1,045 posts)I may get smoked for saying it but, a looong time ago I heard this phrase expressing anatomical appreciation, "she has a nice hitch in her get along." Okay, I will leave quietly.
marble falls
(71,950 posts)ShepKat
(537 posts)and not too many I don't. I swear i've said 75% of these in the last month.
Golly ! (I hear that in Clara's voice in back to the future 3)
iwillalwayswonderwhy
(2,728 posts)One of my faves.
Wicked Blue
(8,887 posts)also Faaaar f*cking out.
Too cool. Too cool for school.
Total bummer.
He's such a winner (meaning loser)
Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)Wicked Blue
(8,887 posts)Also, what a drag.
EarnestPutz
(2,843 posts)instead of "far out" and "out of sight".
soldierant
(9,354 posts)was about the same time frame as those, I believe.
MaryMagdaline
(7,964 posts)Malarkey - thanks to Joe Biden
Shenanigans - not sure why its back, but I love it
keithbvadu2
(40,915 posts)yorkster
(3,846 posts)I get the idea, but there are so many other ways to convey this reaction that arent quite so repulsive, nauseating, sickening, disgusting
.
patphil
(9,084 posts)That's like the Pot calling the Kettle black.
Make like a tree and leaf.
See you later alligator, after while crocodile.
Clouds Passing
(7,949 posts)bif
(27,013 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,624 posts)Marthe48
(23,189 posts)Made their bed, now they have to lay in it
Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas
Their chicken has come home to roost
A bun in the oven
Play fast and loose
Handsome is as handsome does
My Mom and Dad both liked 'Wish in one hand, sh*t in the other and see what you have more of'
I like the old phrases and I'm always on the lookout for ones I haven't heard.
getagrip_already
(17,802 posts)See which one fills up faster.
soldierant
(9,354 posts)and the "fast" in it has nothing to do with speed. Grifters at fairs (which were not celebratory events primarily, but opportunities for merchants to sell to larger crowds) , then as now, had grifters. "Fast and Loose" was a game some of them used, similar in the sense of "the quickness of the hand" aspect to the "which cup is the ball under." The grifter would take a belt, often one belonging to the mark, an twist and tie it up quickly and confusingly, and challenge the mark to take a knife and drive it into a spot such that it would stay "fast" on the table when one tried to pick it up. But it would always turn out to be "loose."
Marthe48
(23,189 posts)a new story for me
Thanks!
CTyankee
(68,224 posts)Response to Buttoneer (Original post)
comradebillyboy This message was self-deleted by its author.
erronis
(23,931 posts)Hope you do a re-post with a collection of these. (There is probably already a book/web page out there.)
yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(11,178 posts)"May I help you?"
"I see your side of the argument and we should discuss it further."
"I have enough." (A particularly obsolete phrase that seem to have zero meaning for anyone in this country.)
"We need to look at the big picture." (If we did that, we'd see just how insidious those rethugs have been, so they got rid of that concept.)
And one of my all time favorites... an Irish prayer that means as much today as it did back when it was created.
"From ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night, Great Lord protect us!"
I used to hear the older people say this all the time way back when. We surely need it now.
Response to Buttoneer (Original post)
Prairie_Seagull This message was self-deleted by its author.
malthaussen
(18,576 posts)(That's the bowdlerdized version). It refers to a female of aesthetically pleasing figure.
-- Mal
soldierant
(9,354 posts)it could also refer to a well-built man. In Terence Blanchard's opera "Champion, " based on the real life of Emil Griffith (who never intended to do anything else but make hats), the librettist has the fight manager he meets tell him that's how he is built, in just those words (uncensored). (He does become a boxer, a champion - I forget what weight - but is not at peace with himself after one of his blows in the ring kills another boxer.)
malthaussen
(18,576 posts)crud
(1,258 posts)Red up the house (when straightening up the house for unexpected company)
If anyone calls, tell them Barnaby said hello (if you're from Cleveland you may have heard this)
The Stoop, when referring to the door step (might be a pennsylvania thing)
50 cents to see the elephant jump the fence. (when asking for ice cream man money)
These were some of my mom's sayings.
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)"Road hog!"
Iggo
(49,938 posts)Last edited Mon Dec 23, 2024, 04:16 AM - Edit history (1)
Whoever it was has a lisp.
Response to Buttoneer (Original post)
Kaleva This message was self-deleted by its author.
Pluvious
(5,400 posts)Help me buckle up my shoes
"Three four open the door, five six pick up sticks..."
LisaM
(29,639 posts)Also, "By Jove!"
EarnestPutz
(2,843 posts)Pluvious
(5,400 posts)It's almost got 2000 views right now, and 115 replies, but only 14 recs
EarnestPutz
(2,843 posts)soldierant
(9,354 posts)if I could find the rec button. I have not been able to recommend an OP since the latedt changed in recommending comments.
soldierant
(9,354 posts)even though I have not yet come across one I haven't heard somewhere before. Sur, it means I'm old, but what a rich life I must have lived to have heard all those generations of catch phrases.
mobeau69
(12,384 posts)Pluvious
(5,400 posts)Was that Jed Clampet's phrase in The Beverly Hillbillies ?
LeftInTX
(34,330 posts)Niagara
(11,876 posts)The cat's meow
See a man about a dog/horse
Not on your Nelly
Hold your horses
Up your nose with a rubber hose
Up to snuff
What's your poison?
Jeebo
(2,560 posts)And a 1940s radio show. I used to watch it on TV in the late 1950s when I was a kid. I never knew it was a radio show in the 1940s, before I was born, until I got a Sirius satellite radio in my car a few years ago and discovered that they play episodes from that 1940s radio show often on their old-time radio classics station.
About 15 years ago I had a cat who came from one of my neighbors' houses and took up with me. I walked by him snoozing on a corner of a bookcase in my living room one day and suddenly had the thought, This cat has people feeding him, opening doors for him, giving him affection, he's living the life of Riley, so he must be ... Riley! And that was the perfect name for that cat. Somehow it just fit him to a T.
-- Ron
Niagara
(11,876 posts)Last edited Sun Dec 22, 2024, 02:05 PM - Edit history (1)
The neighbor was outside snow blowing and shoveling and the dog stayed close to him.
I commented on how well behaved his dog was and asked about the dog's name.
He replied. "Riley. The Life of Riley."
I don't hear that too much anymore so I though that I would throw that phrase in.
mercuryblues
(16,430 posts)she would tell us to Put some hustle in that bustle. IOW Stop dragging your ass hand hurry up.

GreenWave
(12,648 posts)soldierant
(9,354 posts)kimbutgar
(27,259 posts)I never hear that anymore !
LeftInTX
(34,330 posts)WmChris
(744 posts)Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. From an old electric lineman.
debm55
(60,734 posts)happybird
(5,393 posts)Came across that one at work again today.
"What are you doing next?"
"Cuttin' da cheese."
Literally, since it's a deli. We old people giggle, but we had to explain it to the younger ones because they just looked confused.
if..fish..had..wings
(880 posts)My mother used to deny she ever said it, but all 5 kids agree she did
"I'm going to snatch you bald-headed"
3catwoman3
(29,435 posts)Something my dad, born in 1921, would say if really annoyed about something. Ive never heard anyone else say it.
MichMan
(17,162 posts)Jeebo
(2,560 posts)It means everything's good. It means everybody's happy about the state of affairs. Which none of us here at DU are since November 5. I used to hear "hunky-dory" every once in a while but rarely hear it any more, so for the past few years I've been using it in an attempt to bring it back.
Ron
soldierant
(9,354 posts)yellowdogintexas
(23,696 posts)soldierant
(9,354 posts)But he doesn't appear to have originated it. At least one white person picked it up from him and popularized it among white people. Of the many, the story I tend to believe is that is came from creole French and usage in the black communities of New Orleans.
marigold20
(933 posts)referring to something stylish. Something my mom (born in 1920) used to say.
SonOfNebanaube
(118 posts)"it's a free country..."
Buttoneer
(980 posts)Golden Raisin
(4,755 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,927 posts)FSogol
(47,626 posts)even when I was little.
DeeDeeNY
(3,954 posts)Has become "No worries"
Submariner
(13,374 posts)is/was regional and I never heard it outside of New England.
madamesilverspurs
(16,513 posts)My body is getting cranky enough that I'm really missing full-service gas stations.
.
CanonRay
(16,180 posts)Courtesy my mother.
raccoon
(32,393 posts)moniss
(9,067 posts)"standards of journalism", "service with a smile", "rule of law", "nobody is above the law", "work hard and you'll get ahead", "new, exciting automotive style", "clean water", "low, low prices", "affordable rent", "she wouldn't do that to me", "he wouldn't do that to me", "I don't know", "nobody is that crazy", "bring a bottle of milk from the store", "your condition is covered", "somebody will stop it", "new and improved", "this won't hurt a bit", "leave our kids a better life than we had", "peace and harmony", "the public good", "he's not like Hitler", "I'll paint any car $29.95", "it'll only be for awhile", "our company was not aware of the harmful effects".
C0RI0LANUS
(3,017 posts)"PDQ"
As in telling someone on 13 April: "Better get your taxes done, PDQ!"
(Pretty Darn Quick)
I used it at work; others went with ASAP.
LeftInTX
(34,330 posts)There were lots of phrases with gay in them when I was growing up.
We learned them in school.
They eventually went bye-bye.
